Falling For You
by Fillionfan400
Summary: This is my first shot at a Castle romance story. Enjoy! Xo   S
1. Chapter 1

Kate looked up from her paperwork, and stared at the clock. It was already past nine-thirty on a dismal cloudy Friday. _God, I get to be stuck here while Castle's out with that little arm-candy of his. _Damn. Life would've been so much easier if she had just- Suddenly, the elevator doors opened, and Kate saw Rick step out. He looked pissed off.

"So, where's your girlfriend, Castle?" Beckett said, trying to lighten the mood. Well, his mood anyways. The tiniest mention of Castle's new toy made Kate sick to her stomach with regret and anger.

"We broke up." Castle said, passing Kate's desk in a huff. Had her ears deceived her? Had Kate truly just heard what she thought she had? She wanted to ask Castle, just to be sure, but he had passed into the next room to grab his things. Beckett walked in behind him. Only now did she notice how truly angry Castle was. His face was three shades of red, and Kate could almost see the smoke-stacks in his ears.

"Castle, you okay?" At this point, Beckett was past her feelings of disdain for Castle, and was truly concerned for him.

"Dammit Beckett, why can't you just stay out of it, huh?" Beckett coiled back. Rick had rarely ever lashed out at her like this.

"Castle, I just want to know if you're okay!"

"Yeah? Well I'm not! So just back off! Why the Hell should you care anyways? Aren't you with Mr. Scotty hottie now?" Oof, that hurt. Castle stormed by Beckett. He was flying now, past the bullpen and straight into elevator. Beckett trotted after him, but the elevator closed on her, nearly catching her foot. _Dammit Beckett! Why can't you just stay out of it, huh? _ These words played over and over in Beckett's head as she jumped in the elevator. She ran out the front door, trying to see what way Rick had gone. She saw him at the end of the sidewalk, and she laced between the crowds trying to catch him. Over her head, Beckett could hear the thunder rolling in. Thunder that matched the racing, angry beat of her own heart.

"Rick! Slow down!" wow, Castle had already blown half way down the street before Beckett caught up to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and spun him towards her. But that just made him angry.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I need to talk to you!"

"Why? So you can gloat about your perfect relationship with your new boyfriend? So you can say I told you so? What Beckett?"

Kate was growing furious. She tried to hold back a scream, but her anger burst forth. Along with her secret.

"I wanted to tell you I love you." _ Oh shit. Shit shit shit! _Beckett held her hand to her mouth. The look on Rick's face softened, and his shoulders relaxed.

"Y-you, love me?" _Dammit Kate! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?_ But now that the secret was out, Kate forged on.

"Of course, Rick! I- I've always loved you." And the more Beckett said it out loud, the more true it became to her. She thought for sure that Castle would turn and laugh at her, or just leave her there and walk away. But instead, he did something that shocked her.

He kissed her.

_He kissed her!_ His silky lips pressed against hers, Beckett could feel the magic between them. When he pulled away, he stared at her with those big blue puppy dog eyes of his. Eyes that were filled with love. He pulled her in to him, and they kissed again. The minute their lips collided, a song came to Kate's mind. What was the name of it? Falling for you, by Jem. The song was about finding love after so much heartbreak. Truly, this song had been made for this day. As Castle deepened the kiss, Beckett pulled apart.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"Then why'd you stop?"

"I think we should head to my place."

And so they did. It was at least ten by the time they had gotten there, and once the door was closed, they went at it. _Hard._ They tumbled over the couch, and they settled there for a while, just making out. Suddenly, Kate stood up and led Castle to her room.

That's where things started heating up.

The thunderstorm outside was brewing. Beckett turned on her iPod when she got to her room, and that same song she had in her head before came on. _Said there'd be no goin' back, promised myself I wouldn't be that sad. Maybe that's why you've come along, to show me it's not always bad. _Kate turned, only to run into Rick's strong body. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He then migrated down to her neck and hit her soft spot just right, making her moan.

Suddenly, Kate took control and pulled Castle to her bed. He began removing his jacket and shirt, and once he'd done that, he reached for the buttons on Kate's blouse. But she suddenly stopped him.

"What's wrong?" He asked breathlessly.

"I- my scar." Beckett replied sheepishly.

"Kate, I don't give a damn if you have one scar, or even a million scars. I only care that I love you, not for how you look, but for who you are." _Wow! _ Kate had never imagined that Castle could be that sweet. So when he moved for her blouse again, she let him.

Kate woke up, looked at the clock, and saw that it was 2:30 in the morning. She had awoken with a gasp, for Kate had dreamt a horrible nightmare. She had been reliving the moments of her shooting, and had shot awake. Now, she sat at the edge of her bed and cried. The dream had been so vivid, so realistic, that Kate could actually feel the burning in her chest.

Suddenly, Castle stirred in bed beside her.

"Kate, what's wrong?" He said, his voice sounding groggy.

"I-it was j-just a nightmare." She said, trying not to worry him. But it was a little late for that. Rick sat up, and hugged Kate, rocking her a little in his big, strong arms. He gave her a peck on the cheek.

"It's okay, I'm here for you."

And Kate knew that he truly was.

"Do you need to talk about it?"

"No, I'm okay." And this time, Kate really meant it. She felt safe and happy with Rick there. She felt like having him there had lifted an immense weight off of her shoulders.

"Hey, Rick?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For everything."


	2. Chapter 2

Kate woke up at 6:00 am the next day, and shook Castle awake.

"Rick, it's almost time for work."

"Mhm, five more minutes mom."

Kate giggled.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride."

"I don't wanna get up."

"We can stop for donuts!"

"I'm up!"

Kate and Rick rustled out of bed, and quickly got dressed, all the while sneaking kisses to each other. Suddenly, Kate paused.

"Wait here a sec."

"What? Why?"

"Just stay here!"

Kate left the bedroom for a moment, and returned carrying a pile of clothes.

"These were my dad's. He keeps 'em here in case he ever makes a surprise visit. They should fit you okay. "

Rick tried on the clothes, and they fit perfectly. Damn did he look good in her dad's clothes. She had found him an old beige shirt, some work jeans, and a leather jacket. Rick pulled Kate in and gave her a bear-hug.

"What was that for?"

"I'm honored that you would lend me these."

"Castle, it's really not that big a deal."

"But it is! The fact that you would lend me clothes that used to belong to the most important man in your life, that's huge!"

Wow, Kate hadn't thought of it that way. Maybe he had a point, like lending him the clothes was kind of like letting him know that he was officially part of the family. And the more she thought about this, the more she found it was true. Castle had really become part of her family, and she couldn't be more happy.

"Well, we better get going."

Castle and Beckett arrived through the elevator doors of the precinct side by side, laughing over a joke Castle had told her on the way up.

"Well well, if it isn't our two lovebirds!" Ryan said, startling them both. "Looks like you two are finally getting along!"

"Well, people can change, situations can change." Beckett replied sarcastically. "So, where are we on the kidnapping case?"

"Well, so far all we've got is that security camera footage, but we're still having a hard time identifying the masked guy."

"Witnesses say that they saw a guy similar to ours get in a black SUV with a girl, and we're trying to get a sketch and license plate." Esposito chimed in, poking out from behind Ryan.

"Alright, we have to speed this up you guys. We all know about the 48 hour time-frame. I'll start talking to some of the people that our girl was having trouble with. Castle, wanna give me a hand?"

Castle had almost completely forgotten that they were in the middle of a kidnapping case. Especially after last night.

"Hm? Oh, sure."

Castle stared at Beckett as she leaned over her desk, looking for a lost file. Damn, she looked so amazing. Suddenly, Kate caught Castle staring at her longingly, and giggled.

"Like the view?"

"Actually, very much so." They both giggled, knowing that they were the only two people who understood their little inside jokes.

Kate walked over to the whiteboard, and jotted down a few notes.

"So, Mike Vaughn alibied out, huh?"

"Yeah, and he swears that Jessica Moon was the last one to see Kelly alive."

When Kate turned to look at Castle, she could see that he was upset.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Alexis. You know, these girls went to the same school as her. I can't imagine what would have happened if they had invited her to that party."

Wow. Kate was amazed at how openly sensitive Rick was being.

"Trust me, I think Alexis would've been able to take care of herself. She's a strong kid, smart too. She gets it from her dad."

Rick grinned ear to ear.. That was perhaps the sweetest thing Beckett had ever said to him. Well, other than "I love you."


	3. Chapter 3

When Beckett woke up that night around midnight from another nightmare, the first thing she did was feel for Castle's warm body on the other side of her bed. But when she couldn't feel him there, she called him up.

"Beckett, hey. What's up? "

"I just needed someone to talk to."

"What's wrong, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just had another nightmare, and I needed to talk to someone."

"Well, go ahead then."

Kate smiled. No one had ever been willing to listen to her about her nightmares before. So for the next half our, Kate stayed up talking to Rick about everything that was stressing her out. She found that he was a surprisingly good listener. He didn't crack a single joke the whole time, and was very sensitive whenever she started to tear up. When she finally hung up her phone, Kate Beckett felt like a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep again.

Ryan and Esposito stared at the white board that stood before them, trying to connect the dots on their latest case. So far, all they had were some eye-witness testimonies, and a fuzzy security camera image. They had really been hoping to get a license plate number from someone, but they hadn't had much luck.

When Ryan looked up again, he saw Kate headed for them.

"Hey Beckett! Any news on the case?" He chimed cheerily.

"Well, I did get someone who says they can get us a license plate number. They're coming in in a few minutes."

"Cool! By the way, Castle called in a few minutes ago, he said he was gonna go look over the crime scene with CSU."

That last sentence made Kate freeze dead in her tracks. Castle had never gone to an active crime scene without one of them there with him. It was too dangerous. Why hadn't he called her first? Why didn't he tell her what he was doing? He knew that what he was doing was dangerous! He knew-

"Kate?" Ryan's voice brought her back with a snap.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I, uh, I gotta make a call real quick."

Kate ran to her private office, and picked up her phone. She dialed Castle's number as fast as she could, her fingers flying across the buttons, yet not seeming to go fast enough. When Castle didn't pick up right away, Kate got worried. _Oh God, what if he's hurt? What if something happened to him? What if- _Suddenly, Castle's voice chimed through Beckett's ears, like a soft, melodic song.

"Beckett, hey! What's up?"

_Oh thank God! _Beckett sighed in relief, not realizing how loud it was.

"Kate, you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Everything's fine!"

"Then, why'd you call?"

"Oh, Ryan told me that you had gone over to the crime scene with CSU, and I just- wanted to see if you had found anything."

"Well, so far, no. But I'll be sure to call you up when we do!"

"Alright, thanks."

Beckett hung up, sat down, and laughed, feeling relieved.


	4. Chapter 4

Castle appeared at Beckett's apartment half past nine. He was carting dessert in his left hand (cherry pie, of course), and flowers in his right. He struggled in his coat pocket for the key Kate had given him so he could get in, found it, and stepped into the apartment. He was greeted with the strong smell of Chinese food. He inhaled deeper, and was able to smell egg rolls, pork fried rice, and lo maine. He also inhaled the familiar scent of Kate's perfume.

He spun around and met her gaze. She was dressed in a blue turtle-neck, and black work pants, and had her hair in a ballerina bun. Castle stared at her in all her breath-taking beauty. She leaned wordlessly into him and gave him a deep kiss.

"Well well, looks like someone's a little late," She said, pulling apart from him.

"Ahem, I believe the term is _fashionably late._"

"Not when you're that ugly!" Beckett teased.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"Maybe a kiss will make it better." Beckett said, kissing Castle again.

"Well, we'd better eat before this all gets cold." Beckett said, leading Castle to the dining room table. They sat and ate for about thirty minutes, then wound up curling up on Beckett's couch to watch a movie (For Lovers Only). (Sorry, all I could think of).

Around half way through the movie, Beckett looked up at Castle with an odd look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking," Kate sighed loudly. "When you didn't call me this morning, I- Oh God Rick, I got so worried." Beckett sat up a bit straighter, putting herself at his eye-level.

"Oh, Kate, oh jeez, I am so sorry!" Castle said, moving in to hug her. But she pushed him back a little.

"No, Rick, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so paranoid. I should have trusted that you could handle yourself."

"Kate, I don't mind you being worried about me. But you know that you can trust me. I'm a big boy, and I can take care of myself."

"Yet you still can't make decent dessert." Kate said, snickering. Castle hugged her, this time she let him.

"Look, I promise next time, I'll call you."

"And I promise that next time, I'll remember to trust you."

They stayed in that hug for what felt like hours, then simultaneously pulled apart. Kate looked into Rick's big blue eyes, and he looked into her large hazel ones. They both leaned in for a kiss, which ended up turning into a full-on make out session. After about five minutes, Kate stood and led Castle to her room. They ended up sprawled across the bed fifteen minutes later, his strong arms wrapped around her slim figure. Finally, they both curled up and slept the night away.


End file.
